A Look Back At The Move To Bowling Green

Bowling Green, Kentucky is the proud home of the Corvette, but it wasn’t always that way. In fact, when the Corvette assembly plant moved from St. Louis, Missouri in 1981, the Bowling Green community was far from welcoming to the employees who moved to keep their jobs. This attitude is conveyed in an article and video posted by the St. Louis Today on their website. Thanks to Keith Cornett from Corvette Blogger for bringing us the news.

Back when the Corvette assembly plant was moved from St. Louis, some 900 employees followed their jobs to Bowling Green. While their jobs were waiting for them, they were not welcomed by the community. In the video, St. Louis’s assembly plant president, Eldon Renaud, talks about the move to Bowling Green. He, along with workers from the St. Louis plant explain the challenges of packing up and leaving St. Louis to maintain their jobs as well as how they were treated once they got to the Corvette’s new home.

The video also shows some vintage photos of the St. Louis assembly plant along with footage of Corvettes being assembled at Bowling Green. While Renaud states in the video that he thought Corvette would always be a part of the St. Louis scene, he admits that the company is happy in their Bowling Green location.

Although their home in Bowling Green started out rough, the community has since embraced their new identity as the home of the Corvette. We’re glad that the Corvette has since been welcomed into the community and we look forward to seeing what the Bowling Green assembly plant produces in the future.